From owner-freebsd-newbies Fri Jun 12 17:54:08 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id RAA27766 for freebsd-newbies-outgoing; Fri, 12 Jun 1998 17:54:08 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (suebla.lnk.telstra.net [139.130.44.81]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA27593 for ; Fri, 12 Jun 1998 17:53:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.8.5/8.8.5) id KAA00561; Sat, 13 Jun 1998 10:53:00 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <19980613105256.03898@welearn.com.au> Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 10:52:56 +1000 From: Sue Blake To: XDrAcOX@mci2000.COM Cc: newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Installing X-Windows References: <3581B36E.C76B5891@mci2000.COM> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: <3581B36E.C76B5891@mci2000.COM>; from DrAcO on Fri, Jun 12, 1998 at 07:02:07PM -0400 Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Fri, Jun 12, 1998 at 07:02:07PM -0400, DrAcO wrote: > I am new to the FreeBSD "enviroment", and am only 15 at the time so > forgive me if I sound kind of "out of it" right now. I recently > installed FreeBSD 2.2.6 on my laptop (Toshiba 430CDS) and am having > trouble running X-Windows. When X-Windows comes up, it seems like an > older version. When I ran RedHat Linux 4.2, my X-Windows background was > green and it had a start menu, etc., etc. However, my FreeBSD X-Windows > is grey, has no start menu, and the colors are different. The X-Term > windows is actually white! In X-Windows configuration, I have selected > the right graphics card, screen resolution, and everything is correct, > but when I startx it looks the same. I installed FreeBSD from a > CD-ROM. I was wondering if someone could help me figure out what the > problem is? Support questions normally go to freebsd-questions@freebsd.org (not -newbies), but it seems you've come to the right place after all because we can steer you to some documentation that will likely fix you up without actually giving you advice. I think (and remember, I'm only a newbie too) that what you're seeing is the difference between one window manager and another. When I used Red Hat it installed complete with a very microsoft-like window manager and I didn't have to choose one, or even know what a window manager is. Now you're about to find out. There's a lot of different window managers, each one giving X a totally different look and feel. Changing window managers can feel like moving from, say, windoze95 to a macintosh. It's amazing! Go to this site and read all about it, you'll be blown away by what you can do. http://www.plig.org/xwinman/ There's illustrations and some good background information that explains what window managers do. You can install any you want to try out from the FreeBSD packages collection. See, I don't think you have a problem here but an opportunity to discover whole new worlds by yourself. But if you still have problems, write to the support mailing list freebsd-questions@freebsd.org and the people who know what they're talking about will give you some really good advice. There's two web pages for FreeBSD Newbies you might like to look at: http://www.freebsd.org/newbies.html is a list of resources we find useful http://www.welearn.com.au/freebsd/newbies/ is about this list and some tips on solving problems and getting help Let us know how you get on! -- Regards, -*Sue*- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message